Siciliambiente Film Festival (16)

Festival start: 15 July 2024      Festival end: 20 July 2024

The 16th annual SiciliAmbiente Film Festival will take on July 15-20, 2024.

The aim of SiciliAmbiente Film Festival is to promote independent cinema and documentary cinema, and to encourage creative exchange and networking among the directors.

This Festival is organized and sponsored by Demetra Produzioni SAS and CANTIERE 7 Cultural Association, and made possible by public and private partners and sponsors who share in the same ethical principles of the Festival.
Films dealing with the following themes may participate: Environment, Anthropology, Human Rights, Biodiversity, War, Integration, Civil Rights, Sustainable Development and the Relationship between Man and the Environment.

The Festival is divided into different sections:

Documentary Film contest (minimum rt: 31 minutes)

Fiction Feature Film contest (minimum rt: 70 minutes)

Short Film contest for Fiction and Documentary shorts (maximum rt: 31 minutes)

Animated short film contest (maximum rt: 31 minutes)

Overview of documentaries, fiction, short films and several tributes, retrospectives, seminars and panel discussions
The Selection Committee will choose based on the quality of writing and images and the general use of a creative language identifying artistic documentary cinema.

DOCUMENTARY CONTEST – FICTION FILM CONTEST - SHORT FILM CONTEST - ANIMATED FILM CONTEST

Submission requirements

Documentaries (31’ or more), Feature films (70’ or more), Short and Animated films (31’ or less) of any nationality may be submitted for the selection process, provided that they were completed after January 1, 2023.

If selected, the format for the projection of the film may be:
· Unencrypted DCP
· Blu-ray DVD
· Apple ProRes File
· File H264

Other formats must be approved by the Festival Management.
Screening fees may not be requested and will not be paid for the contests.

Films in any language other than Italian must be subtitled in English or Italian and, if selected for the final phase of competition, they must be sent to the festival with the requested presentation materials and the English dialogue list.

Films to be presented in the Short film and Animated film sections must be shorter than 31 minutes or they will be excluded.

No screening fees can be requested by the representatives of the films submitted for the contest.
The Festival may choose to invite selected films into the contest.

Some of the films not selected for the short film and animated film contests may be selected for a non-competitive section.

Cash Prizes: 2,000€

AWARDS

Two juries composed of influential figures in Cinema and Culture, will award the following prizes (except for the Audience Award):


FICTION FEATURE FILM SECTION
* The Audience Award

DOCUMENTARY SECTION
* "Il Faro", ('The Lighthouse') Award for Best Documentary (€1,000 grant offered by Arpa Sicilia).
* AAMOD Award, consisting of a plaque and the free use of 3' of audiovisual material by the Labor Movement Archives (value of approximately € 3,000)
* “Human Rights Award” by Amnesty International Italy and SiciliAmbiente
* “Environment Award” by Greenpeace Italy


SHORT FILM SECTION
* "Il Faro", ('The Lighthouse') Award for Best Short film (€ 500 grant offered by Arpa Sicilia).
* “Special TTPIXEL Award”, consisting of 4 sessions of color correction + the production of a dcp master. Total value of € 3,000.

ANIMATED FILM SECTION
* "Il Faro", ('The Lighthouse') Award for Best Animated film (€ 500 grant offered by Arpa Sicilia).

The monetary awards will be transferred to a representative (director or other) indicated by the right-holders of the film no later than 10 months from the date of the award ceremony. In case of dispute, Festival Management reserves the right to request documentation attesting the identity of the right-holders of the film.
The filmmakers and/or producers of the selected films will be notified by June 10th, 2024.
No notification will be provided for the excluded films.
The selection, the general program and the showing schedule are under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Festival Management.

HOW TO APPLY

Participants may apply online at https://www.festivalsiciliambiente.it/iscrizioni/?lang=en
or by clicking on the “Festival” section at www.festivalsiciliambiente.it
Also on the platforms as Festhome.

To register for the competitive sections, payment of an entry fee is required.

The entry fee for registration by March 5th, 2024 is:

€ 25 for the fiction feature film contest
€ 20 for the documentary contest
€ 15 for the short film and animated film contests

The entry fee for registration from March 6th to April 30th 2024 is:

€ 30 for the fiction feature film contest
€ 25 for the documentary contest
€ 20 for the short film and animated film contests.

Payment instructions (online payment or bank transfer) will appear after completing the online entry form.
Failure to pay the entry fee will result in the film being excluded.

The film can be submitted by providing a link and password to view the film online in the entry form, or by sending a DVD/pen drive/hard disk by mail or courier.

Materials sent by mail or courier must be shipped by April 30th, 2024 (postmark date will serve as proof) after filling out the online entry form. Postal expenses for the required documentation are to be paid by the participant. If you are sending your material from abroad, for customs purposes, remember to write the following note on the parcel: “Senza valore commerciale, per soli scopi culturali”/ "NO commercial value, for cultural purposes only". The Festival will not cover the postage for the return of DVDs/pen drives/hard disks.

Materials sent by courier (DVD, pen drives, hard disks) must be sent to the following address:
Demetra Produzioni
Via Rosa Raimondi Garibaldi n. 44
00145 Roma
Italy
Authors and/or Producers are responsible for the content of their films and, upon registration to the Festival, must declare that all obligations towards third parties deriving from copyright laws and related to the use of copyright material have been fulfilled.

Registration is subject to a binding agreement that all received materials be deposited in the SiciliAmbiente Archive and that authorization for their use be granted for cultural and educational purposes, for research and promotion, also in places and contexts other than this Festival, excluding any commercial use in order to safeguard filmmakers' and producers' interests. The Festival will act as an intermediary between the holders of the rights and distributors.

INVITATIONS AND SHIPPING
Every selected or invited film must include:
-completed online entry form;
- all accompanying documentation requested at the notice of selection/invitation.
The screening copies of films selected for screening must arrive no later than June 20th, 2024 or they will be excluded, at the following address:
Demetra Produzioni
Via Rosa Raimondi Garibaldi n. 44
00145 Rome
Italy

If choosing to send HD files online, file transfer must be arranged with Festival management by writing to copies@festivalsiciliambiente.it.

Postal expenses and Customs clearance are to be covered by the sender. SiciliAmbiente will cover Postal expenses and Customs clearance for return shipping. If, after the screening at this Festival, a copy is requested for another festival, Postage and Customs clearance will be at the expense of the party making the request. In any case, SiciliAmbiente will cover the charges relative to no more than one shipment of the copy.

DONATION TO THE ARCHIVE
The donation of one copy of the film (Blu-ray DVD or Apple ProRes File format) for the Archive would be greatly appreciated. The copy will be used for research purposes, for the preservation and promotion of documentary cinema, and will be excluded any commercial use.

If an Author or Producer decides to withdraw a film from the Festival that has already been included in the program after its selection, a sum of €1,000 must be paid to compensate for damages.

The Festival provides comprehensive insurance coverage (spanning the entire chain of custody, from pick-up to delivery) for copies of the films included in the program. In case of loss of or damage to a copy, SiciliAmbiente's responsibility will be limited to the reprinting costs of the copy, calculated according to corresponding Italian prices.
Participation in the selection implies acceptance of the above Regulations, available also in the original Italian version. In case of mis-interpretation of these rules, the Italian version of the Regulations is to be considered valid.